Ayurveda may offer solutions to wellness issues

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Md Sazedul Islam | Published: December 06, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

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Considered by many scholars to be the oldest healing science, Ayurveda is a holistic approach to health that is designed to help people live long, healthy, and well-balanced lives. The holistic practice is based on creating harmony between body, mind and spirit and maintaining that balance to prevent illness, treat conditions and contribute to overall good health.
As a holistic health practice, Ayurveda seeks to maintain a balance between a person's physical, mental and spiritual aspects. When this balance is upset, disease and other health problems can result, according to Ayurvedic practitioners.
Ayurved has proved its efficacy over thousands of years. Ayurveda, also known as Ayurvedic Medicine, is the traditional medicine of India, which originated there over 5,000 years ago.
The term Ayurveda is taken from the Sanskrit words ayus, meaning life or lifespan, and veda, meaning knowledge. It has been practiced in India for at least 5,000 years and has recently become popular in Western cultures. The basic principle of Ayurveda is to prevent and treat illness by maintaining balance in the body, mind, and consciousness through proper drinking, diet, and lifestyle, as well as herbal remedies.
Ayurveda consists of a number of disciplines, including aromatherapy, diet, herbal medicine, acupuncture, yoga, massage, meditation and balancing of energies. It is now one of the most recognised and widely-practiced disciplines of alternative medicine in the world. It is based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit. The primary focus of Ayurvedic medicine is to promote good health, rather than fight disease.
According to Ayurvedic theory, everything in the universe -- living or not -- is connected. Good health is achieved when your mind, body, and spirit are in harmony with the universe. A disruption of this harmony can lead to poor health and sickness. Traditional medicine is a science-based medicine and is deeply rooted in the cultural heritage of Bangladesh. Ayurveda is a natural health care system and its main objective is to achieve optimal health and well-being through a comprehensive approach.         
Nature is the source of 87% drugs used to treat all categorised human diseases and about 80% people in developing countries rely on traditional plant-based medicines for their primary health care. Over 300 species of plants have been reported for their medicinal properties. Focus on natural products is increasing day by day as it serves as an enormous source of new drugs.      
The whole world is witnessing a resurgence of interest in traditional medicinal systems evolved in different parts of the world. New scientific researches and studies are coming out gradually in the field of these traditional systems leading to discovery of efficacious drugs. Ayurved claims to have treatment and cures to many diseases like cancer, rheumatism and diabetes, which are reaching endemic proportions in Bangladesh.
Dr Mohammad Babul Akter, Assistant Professor and Head of Ayurvedic Department of Hamdard University, Bangladesh said: "Bangladesh has a rich diversity of medicinal plants of which a large section remains unexplored. It is our time-honoured duty to explore these potential resources and use these plant species in a manner where Bangladesh people can remain healthy and free from diseases. Ayurved can be an excellent medium to achieve this goal. This form of traditional medicine not only provides a guide for curing diseases but also provides an excellent guideline to remain healthy and free from diseases. This holistic concept is what is necessary in today's stressful world".
The traditional medicinal system has also further advantages in reducing our dependency on costly imported medicines and instead uses local resources for development of cost-effective medicines. Many modern drugs have been discovered from close observations of traditional medicinal practices.
Both India and China have shown that how traditional medicinal systems can be utilised in the proper development of the entire health sector of the countries, Bangladesh should not lag behind.
The formulations of Ayurveda have been used with success for treatment of diseases in the Indian sub-continent for over three millennia and are now gradually being recognised by modern science as a remarkable method of treatment.
"Ayurveda has recently been recognised by western scientists for its ability to cure a number of diseases, which are difficult to cure with allopathic medicine. If such diseases can be treated successfully with Ayurveda, it cannot only provide a cost-effective way of treatment, but can also revolutionise the pharmaceutical and health sector of this country", said Dr Babul Akter.
Providing quality healthcare at affordable prices is an urgent priority in all developing societies. Given the continuing health challenges that countries like Bangladesh face, we have no choice but to develop and harness all system of medicine and treatment.
Ayurvedic medicine with its availability and affordability can be an alternative choice to us. Our health system with its resources constraints can easily incorporate Ayurvedic medicine in its system, which is widely available and marketed locally.
Our country is in serious crisis with shortage of allopathic medicine practitioners eg doctors, nurses and midwives. The dearth of this shortage in allopathic workforce can be well compensated if the Ayurvedic workforce could be utilised and recruited in our health system.
Bangladesh is a least developing country where poor people cannot have expensive allopathic health care services. Ayurvedic medicine is comparatively cheap and within the affordability of our common people. It is high time we recognised the potential of Ayurvedic medicine and its workforce.
Ayurvedic doctors are gaining recognition in recent years in our neighbouring countries. Sri Lanka, India, Bhutan, Pakistan and Nepal are examples. India has recognised some of the principles and therapeutics of Ayurveda as a mode of intervention to some community health problems. AYUSH of India is a part of Indian health system in rural health mission. Sri Lanka has a separate Ministry of Alternative Medicine.            
Realizing the importance of natural healing system, Ayurved and Naturopathy Association of Bangladesh (ayuns) recently organised the 3rd ayuns International Ayurvedic and Traditional Medicine Conference at the Senate Hall of Dhaka University to popularise traditional medicinal system among people in the country.
The conference is a giant stride towards establishing traditional medicines like Ayurveda on a firm footing in Bangladesh. The organisers expressed hope that the joint collaboration of all those who attended the conference will contribute to joint research and development projects with ayuns to establish traditional medicines in Bangladesh on a scientific basis.
Dr Babul Akter, also general secretary of ayuns, said the conference will help in introducing 'evidence-based Ayurvedic therapy' in Bangladesh. Through the conference we tried to enhance awareness of Ayurved and traditional medicine in Bangladesh and help to contribute to providing even higher standards of public health in Bangladesh, said Dr Babul.             
It is high time that the traditional medicinal practices of the country, especially Ayurveda, play an important role in the primary health care system of Bangladesh and benefit its people through the low costs of such medicines and their ready availability.        
The writer is a journalist. His e-mail address is- sissabuj@yahoo.com